Directions:Follow the instructions to arrive to the Florence Cathedral. The Museum is on the other side of Piazza del Duomo. ​

It might not be the best known, but undoubtedly the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo is one of the most important museums in Florence, mainly because of its unparalleled collection of medieval and Renaissance Florentine sculpture, including pieces by Arnolfo di Cambio, Andrea Pisano, Donatello, Lorenzo Ghiberti, Andrea del Verrocchio, Luca della Robbia and Michelangelo.

Located in the heart of Florence its 6,000 square metres comprises 25 rooms with more than 700 works of the masters of Italian art, making this one of the most important museums in the city to understand Florentine art, even if due to the gigantic collection not everything can be displayed on exhibit at the same time.

Furthermore, visiting it is as important as going to Giotto's Bell Tower, Florence Cathedral or Florence Baptistery, as it houses the most valuable pieces of the Duomo complex. There are the three original doors from the Florence Baptistery (their original location were replaced with copies) and many of the pieces that used to be in Florence Cathedral (the seventy fragments of medieval facade to begin with). A special room is dedicated to the details of the construction of the Dome by Filippo Brunelleschi, its original models and other remnants, that explains what makes this an architectural masterpiece.

The original atmosphere from centuries ago is brought back in detail: Many rooms recreate the original display from from the spaces in the Cathedral and there are also the 16th and 17th century plans for a new façade displayed, which was finally built, to yet another design in the late 19th century. The museum also has gathered collections of books and manuscripts and more than 600 relics from the Cathedral and Baptistery.

Among the hundreds of pieces, one of the most important is Michelangelo's La Pietà. He wanted this work to be in the altar near which he expected to be buried in a Roman church, but by 1555, dissatisfied with the marble and his work, he stopped and destroyed part of it. The piece was finished by one of his apprentices.

Also not to be missed is the second floor and the great collection of late 16th and 17th century works and, apart from the hundreds of pieces and to close the visit, a unique view to the Cathedral's Dome from the balcony.

If there's anything you'd like to know about visiting Florence please feel free to write to me, Dion Protani at the following e-mail address: info@italyreview.com.